Celebrating Our Diversity

Peggy Flanagan is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office. Flanagan’s work is focused on uplifting the underrepresented, supporting working-class families and raising awareness about issues that impact underserved communities. Flanagan champions women in government and child-advocacy on local and Minnesota state-wide efforts.

Matika Wilbur is a visual storyteller from the Swinomish and Tulalip Nations. Wilbur is best known for her work chronicling the vibrancy of Native America through Project 562. She has photographed members of over 300 Tribal Nations throughout 40 states, from Tlingits in Alaska to the Pima in Arizona, Pomos in California to Wampanoags on Cape Cod. Wilbur strives to change the perception of Indigenous people across Turtle Island and cultivate a more nuanced understanding of Native life in the 21st century.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi Nation citizen, scientist, author, mother, and professor. Kimmerer is best known for her award-winning books including: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses; The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World; and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Kimmerer tours frequently and is passionate about teaching people about ecology and restoring and strengthening our relationship with the land.

A Diné (Navajo) of the Dibé izhiní clan on his mother’s side, Tom Goldtooth is Dakota Bdewakantonwan Hunka from Minnesota. Goldtooth is the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and has built an organization of 250 Indigenous communities focused on climate justice, green energy, clean water, and sustainable development. Goldtooth speaks on environmental justice, with a focus on Indigenous people globally, as not only survivors of environmental colonialism but those who hold the knowledge of mending our relationship with mother Earth.

We’wha (1849-1896) was a Lhamana person of the Zuni people. We’wha, as an Lhamana person, took on roles that were considered both traditionally male and female within their community. These tasks included spiritual work, pottery, weaving and being a cultural ambassador for their people. This last role led We’wha into a formal ambassadorship between the Zuni people and the U.S. government, causing them to be one of the most well-documented historical, queer Native individuals to date. We’wha’s dedication to their people and traditions has inspired many queer Natives for generations.

"I was born with Larsen syndrome, a genetic physical disability. I first ventured into disability advocacy at age 10 when I appeared on Sesame Street. That’s the getting-to-know-you fun fact I share at parties. I’m from Long Island, New York, where I graduated with a B.A. in English from Adelphi University in 2013. In 2017, I was named one of Adelphi’s 10 Under 10 Young Alumni and had the honor of serving on Adelphi’s Board of Trustees for four years. In 2018, I was selected for the American Association of People with Disabilities’ Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award. In 2022, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism honored me with their Disability Advocate of the Year Award, the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities honored me with the Frieda Zames Advocacy Award, and The Viscardi Center honored me with the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award, which recognizes international leaders with disabilities. And in 2023, I received the Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award from the Women’s Media Center...I provide communications and social media strategy consulting as well as editorial services for multiple disability-related organizations and initiatives. I’m the Editor of Able News at The Viscardi Center. Previously, I served in roles including Digital Content Manager for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum, Editor of the Voices of Disability Economic Justice, and the founding Editor in Chief of the Rooted in Rights Blog. And, I co-host The Accessible Stall Podcast with one of my best friends, Kyle Khachadurian. My first book, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be An Ally, was published by Ten Speed Press in September 2021." (emilyladau.com) (Photo Credit: Emily Ladau)

"The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change, and the World Health Organization appointed her Commissioner of Social Connection. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she travels the world teaching organizations the importance of choosing inclusion. Harnessing the power of the written word to spark advocacy, she wrote and published the book that became a bestseller. Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law takes readers on adventures around the world, including her parents’ homes in Eritrea and Ethiopia, building a school under the scorching Saharan sun, training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and talking with President Biden and President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating book is a testament to Haben’s determination to resist isolation and find the keys to connection. A spellbinding speaker, her keynotes have touched the stages of Apple, Bottega Veneta, Disney, Google, Microsoft, Oxford University, and many more. Her engaging presentations ignite audiences to make positive changes in their communities. Haben was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. She enjoys dancing, walking in nature, and culinary adventures." (habengirma.com)

"James (Jim) LeBrecht is a filmmaker, sound designer and mixer, author, screenwriter, and Disability rights activist with over 40 years of experience. His film sound credits include Minding the Gap, Crip Camp, The Island President, The Waiting Room, and Audrie and Daisy. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced the Netflix Original, 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award-winning feature-length documentary, Crip Camp, with Nicole Newnham. LeBrecht is the co-author of Sound and Music for the Theatre: The Art and Technique of Design, a comprehensive text that discusses the aesthetics of sound design for the stage, now in its fourth edition. He is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, which works for the rights of the disabled through education, legislation, and litigation. Jim has joined several scripted projects as a director and producer." (FordFoundation.org)

"Ryan O’Connell is the Emmy-nominated creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Special, which is based on his memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. He’s also written for other TV shows like Will & Grace, Awkward, and Peacock’s Queer as Folk revival, which he also stars in. He lives, laughs, and loves in Los Angeles with his partner, Jonathan Parks-Ramage." (SimonAndSchuster.com)

"Dr. Grandin did not talk until she was three and a half years old. She was fortunate to get early speech therapy. Her teachers also taught her how to wait and take turns when playing board games. She was mainstreamed into a normal kindergarten at age five. Oliver Sacks wrote in the forward of Thinking in Pictures that her first book Emergence: Labeled Autistic was “unprecedented because there had never before been an inside narrative of autism.” Dr. Sacks profiled Dr. Grandin in his best selling book Anthropologist on Mars...Dr. Grandin became a prominent author and speaker on both autism and animal behavior. Today she is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She also has a successful career consulting on both livestock handling equipment design and animal welfare. She has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio) and a BBC Special – "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow". She has also appeared on National TV shows such as Larry King Live, 20/20, Sixty Minutes, Fox and Friends, and she has a 2010 TED talk. Articles about Dr. Grandin have appeared in Time Magazine, New York Times, Discover Magazine, Forbes and USA Today. HBO made an Emmy Award winning movie about her life and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016...When she was young, she was considered weird and teased and bullied in high school. The only place she had friends was activities where there was a shared interest such as horses, electronics, or model rockets. Mr. Carlock, her science teacher, was an important mentor who encouraged her interest in science. When she had a new goal of becoming a scientist, she had a reason for studying. Today half the cattle in the United States are handled in facilities she has designed." (TempleGrandin.com)

"Over the past 35 years, well-respected knowledge keeper Albert McLeod has worked tirelessly for the rights of Two-Spirit (2S), lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (2LGBTQ+) people in the local community and across the continent. McLeod is a status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community of Norway House. Known as a progressive thinker and visionary, McLeod has led the way for rights and recognition of 2S people in North America since 1986. Recognizing the importance of Elder Myra Laramee’s vision of Two-Spirit in 1990, McLeod has worked with LGBTQ Indigenous people across the continent to organize under the name “Two Spirit” to remember the honoured roles of non-binary gender people in pre-contact First Nations, and the important spiritual role they played within their communities. Since then, the movement has grown to involve organizations throughout North America. It has also made an impact on academia that includes research and scholarly books on various aspects of Two-Spirit history, philosophy, and sociology. McLeod is recognized as a pioneer in HIV education for Indigenous people. His commitment to 2S people and Indigenous people living with HIV/AIDS is evident in the range of service commitments he has made over the years...McLeod’s innovative leadership led to the development of services for impacted communities, including Nine Circles Community Health Centre, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, and Ka Ni Kanichihk’s HIV intiatives...He also participated on the Advisory Council to help the Government of Canada develop an apology for injustices faced by 2LGBTQ+ communities. McLeod’s work extends beyond the 2LGBTQ+ community. He is also engaged in human-rights activism, cross-cultural training, cultural reclamation, and language workshops, and has served as an advisor and activist for Winnipeg’s inner-city community." (The University of Winnipeg, 2024) (Photo Credit: Christina W. Kroeker)

"Throughout his life, in the face of injustice, lack of rights, and oppression, Kramer harnessed his anger to propel creativity and action: both in his efforts to organize and activate his community, and through his art. As injustice, lack of access to healthcare, and discrimination persists today, Kramer continues to be a source of inspiration. Among other things, Kramer was known as the founder of Act Up, or AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, whose collective organizing pushed for more AIDS drugs research and an end to discrimination against the gay community. When he founded the organization in 1987, the AIDS epidemic was devastating the gay community. The US government had been slow to even acknowledge the disease—in 1985, President Regan finally mentioned the word AIDS, calling it a top priority, and allocated research funding to find a cure. Two years later, drugs like AZT existed, but they were expensive and difficult to access. Kramer wrote The Normal Heart after visiting the Dachau concentration camp in Germany and learning more about the silence and inaction of Germans and other European nations to stop the Holocaust. Kramer felt that the same thing was happening with the AIDS crisis—people weren’t mad enough to say anything and act...Kramer today is rightly remembered for his loud voice in the face of oppression, lack of accessible healthcare, and inertia by elected officials. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases then and now, had a contentious relationship with Kramer due to the government’s failure to address the AIDS crisis, ended up becoming more friendly toward the end of Kramer’s life. “In American medicine there are two eras,” said Dr. Fauci in 2002, “Before Larry and after Larry.” But the forcefulness of his plays too have rippled out into contemporary theater, with artists like Tony Kushner and Taylor Mac making work for which Kramer paved the way. Taylor Mac, speaking about Gary in 2019 in the New York Times, reflected the legacy of Kramer’s activist artwork. It wasn’t subtlety Mac wanted in performances, but in-your-face maximalism: “You go to the theater to see a part of yourself you haven’t seen before.” (Teplitzky, 2022) (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

"Lou Sullivan (1951-1991) was a gay and transgender historian, community organizer, and diarist. Sullivan’s diaries chronicle his social and medical transition – as well as his rich emotional and sexual life – from his teenage years in Milwaukee until his death. Sullivan struggled throughout his early life to understand himself and his gender. As a teenager, he was fascinated by male rock stars (especially the Beatles) and tough, troubled young men. As a young adult, he began dressing regularly in men’s clothing and cruising the Milwaukee bars. After moving to San Francisco and fighting to make himself understood to his therapist and partner, Sullivan transitioned and rapidly became a leader in the transmasculine community. Sullivan published two books — a guide called Information For the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual, and a biography of an early 20th century trans man, From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland. He also became a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society. In 1986, Sullivan was diagnosed with HIV. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991, at the age of 39." (glbthistory.org) (Photo Credit: Flame Sullivan)

"Miss Major is a Black, transgender activist who has fought for over fifty years for her trans/gender nonconforming community. Major is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a survivor of Dannemora Prison and Bellevue Hospital’s “queen tank.” Her global legacy of activism is rooted in her own experiences, and she continues her work to uplift transgender women of color, particularly those who have survived incarceration and police brutality. Miss Major’s fierce commitment and intersectional approach to justice brought her to care directly for people with HIV/AIDS in New York in the early 1980s, and later to drive San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange. As director of the TGI Justice Project, she’d return to prisons as a mentor to her ‘gurls’ inside. She now runs House of GG-TILIFI, a retreat center for trans and gender nonconforming leaders from the Southern U.S., in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her recent creative projects include executive producing the series Trans in Trumpland (now streaming everywhere), and Miss Major Speaks, a book on her life’s activism co-authored with Toshio Meronek (host of the podcast Sad Francisco), is out now from Verso Books." (MissMajor.net) (Photo Credit: Whitten Sabbatini)

"Stacey Park Milbern, a resident of Oakland, California, was a Korean-American disability justice activist who helped create the Disability Justice movement and advocated for fair treatment of disabled people...At the age of 16, she was an influential leader within the North Carolina Youth Leadership Network. Thanks to her work (in partnership with other NC advocates) the state began including disability history as part of its high school curriculum. She was appointed by the Governor of North Carolina to the Statewide Independent Living Council from 2004 to 2010 and to the North Carolina Commission for the Blind from 2006 to 2008...She served as a leader in many organizations including the National Youth Leadership Network, National Council for Independent Living, Sins Invalid, and a multitude of others. She also served on the board of the WITH Foundation. In 2014, she was appointed by President Obama to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Stacey was also a co-author of Bernie Sander's Disability Rights platform and an Impact Producer for NETFLIX's acclaimed documentary "Crip Camp." Her writings, poetry, speeches, and community organizing served as a catalyst for some of the progressive work happening within the Disability Justice and Disability Rights movements. Most recently, she founded the Disability Justice Culture Club, an activist collective based East Oakland that centers the needs of disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). Stacey was raised in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and received her BA from Methodist University in 2009, and her MBA from Mills College in 2015. After moving to the Bay Area, she joined the program management team at the landmark Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, where she helped advance the mission of full social and political equality for all people with disabilities...Her passing is deeply felt by all that knew her. Her work will live on through the movements she helped shape and the organizations she led. [In Stacey's own words:] 'I want to leave a legacy of disabled people knowing we are powerful and beautiful because of who we are, not despite of it.'" (ilry.org) (Photo Credit: Estate of Stacey Milbern)

"Pushing the envelope on what hip-hop can look and sound like, Xiuhtezcatl’s message and depth transcends his mere twenty-one years on the planet, yet is still packed with all the hard-hitting grit that appeals to today’s generation of listeners. His rhyme scheme is raw and quick-witted. His thought-provoking lyrics are anchored by the Mexica roots on his father's side and the environmental justice work his mother raised him in. X is breaking onto the scene, not only as a musician, but also as an activist, a model, an entrepreneur, and a cross-cultural icon. Being bilingual and a skilled code switcher, he incorporates Spanish and English interchangeably into his music, which has become the outlet for representing his generation, and his people. Xiuhtezcatl has performed and collaborated with artists such as Raury, WILLOW, and Jaden, while building outside the boundaries of the music industry to use art to challenge systems of injustice and re-envision the future. As 1/3 of the emerging hip hop group Voice Runners , Xiuhtezcatl, LA-based artist Tru producer Jaiia Cerff launched into 2020 in full force dropping a series of singles that culminated with the self-titled Voice Runners album in February. In this project, X explores culture, legacy, and his identity and struggles as a young Indigenous man growing up as a minority in mainstream America. X is committed to delivering music that has as much meaning as it has radio appeal." (xiuhtezcatl.com) (Photo Credit: Josué Rivas)

"Felicia "Flames" Elizondo authored a powerful legacy rooted in her identity as a Latinx trans woman. Felicia Elizondo is a self-described “Mexican spitfire, screaming queen, pioneer, legend, icon, diva, 29-year survivor of AIDS and Vietnam veteran.” Her activism has been crucial in raising public awareness of transgender rights and history...Around the age of 16, she found refuge at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, where she became a regular. It was one of the few places in the city where drag queens and transgender women could congregate publicly. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, it became the site of one of the first LGBT riots in U.S. history. The Compton’s Cafeteria riot was led by a group of transgender women against police harassment. Elizondo joined the Navy at age 18 and volunteered to serve in Vietnam. She decided, “If the military couldn’t make me a man, nothing would.” While serving, she realized she would always be attracted to men and told her commanding officer that she was gay. Consequently, she was interrogated by the FBI and the CIA, and the Navy dismissed her with an undesirable discharge. Later, she successfully petitioned to have her discharge reclassified as honorable...In 1987, during the AIDS epidemic, Elizondo tested positive for HIV. She returned to San Francisco and began working with community organizations seeking to improve quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS. She became a trans drag queen and organized drag shows to raise funds for numerous HIV/AIDS nonprofits. Elizondo has worked extensively to bring public attention to transgender history...Elizondo appeared in the documentary “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria” (2005). In 2015 she served as the lifetime achievement grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade. Elizondo died on May 15, 2021." (Equality Forum, 2020) (Photo Credit: Pax Ahimsa Gethen)

"Pedro Albizu Campos (b. 1891-d. 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney, social activist, and nationalist. Albizu Campos was the son of a mixed-race mother who was the daughter of slaves and a Basque father from a farming and landowning family...Albizu Campos grew up in poverty...He served in an African American military unit during World War I, and the racism that he encountered during his service instilled in him a negative view of the United States. After an honourable discharge he entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1921. His fluency in eight languages brought him offers of official posts with the U.S. government. However, he rejected them and returned to Puerto Rico in 1921 in order to devote himself to the cause of Puerto Rican independence...A passionate orator, he quickly became a leading force within the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party...Elected party president in 1930, Albizu Campos initiated a massive political organizing and education campaign for Puerto Rican self-determination...Upon his return to Puerto Rico, he helped to reignite the battle for independence in the hopes of disrupting a proposed plan to grant Puerto Rico commonwealth status...Albizu Campos was promptly arrested and sentenced the following year to an 80-year term in prison. He received a pardon in 1953 from Gov. Luis Muñoz Marin. However, the pardon was revoked a year later following an attack by Nationalists on the U.S. House of Representatives. Albizu Campos had praised the attack and was suspected of having planned it...Albizu Campos’s health again deteriorated while he was in prison. He suffered a stroke in 1956. He alleged that he had been poisoned with radiation (the U.S. Department of Energy confirmed in 1994 that human radiation experimentation had been conducted on prisoners without their consent). He was pardoned once more by Muñoz Marin in 1964, and he died the following April." (Darder, 2024) (Photo Credit: Associated Press)

"Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (b. 1928–d. 2005) was a Mexican American boxer, writer, and civil rights activist who was a leading figure in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Because of his prowess as a boxer, he was known as the “fist” of the movement...Gonzales’s mother died when he was two years old, and his father raised him and his siblings. The family was poor, and Rodolfo often helped his father, a migrant worker, in the sugar beet fields. He earned the nickname “Corky” after his uncle commented on his personality, saying that he was “always popping off like a cork"...Gonzales [enjoyed a successful boxing career, before he] became politically active, dedicating his time to helping poor Chicanos...In 1965 the mayor of Denver appointed Gonzales director of the local chapter of the Neighborhood Youth Corps, which provided job training for poor and underprivileged young people. However, he was fired the following year after he organized a protest against a newspaper for printing racist remarks about Chicanos...In 1966 Gonzales founded the organization Crusade for Justice. Until its demise in the mid-1970s, the group offered the Chicano community such benefits as job training, a food bank, and a bilingual school for children that encouraged cultural pride. Crusade for Justice also protested against police brutality, racism in the media, and employment discrimination...Crusade for Justice also joined other civil rights organizations in national movements. The group notably participated in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Poor People’s Campaign, which culminated in a demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1968...In addition, Gonzales joined Cesar Chavez, who had helped organize poor farm labourers into the powerful National Farm Workers Association, in marches and demonstrations...Gonzales is perhaps best known, however, for the epic poem I Am Joaquín (Yo Soy Joaquín), which was published in both English and Spanish in 1967. Its narrator discusses Mexican and Mexican American history and outlines the struggles that Chicanos have endured in their quest for a cultural identity and equal rights." (Britannica, 2024) (Photo Credit: Webb Canyon Chronicle)

"Born in 1916 in San Antonio, Texas, Emma Tenayuca lived at a time when Mexican Americans were allowed few freedoms and fewer privileges...At age sixteen, already determined to challenge injustice, she became involved in community organizing and was jailed and threatened numerous times. At a time when neither Mexican-Americans nor women were expected to speak out, she spoke out fearlessly, and was soon known as a fiery orator and a brilliant organizer. By age twenty-one, Emma was considered to be one of the most effective organizers for the Workers’ Alliance of America. That same year, 1938, when San Antonio’s lowest paid workers suffered massive wage cuts, they decided to strike. The city’s twelve thousand pecan shellers, most of them women, elected Emma to lead their strike. In less than two months, the pecan shellers forced the owners to raise their pay. The pecan shellers strike is considered by many historians to be the first significant victory in the Mexican American struggle for political and economic equality in this country...In 1939, as Emma was giving a speech, an enraged mob attacked the San Antonio’s Municipal Auditorium. Fearing that she would be lynched, Emma was led away through a secret passageway. The mob threw bricks, broke windows, set fires, ripped out auditorium seats, and later that night, together with the Ku Klux Klan, burned the city’s mayor in effigy for having defended Emma’s right to free speech. This event is still on record as the San Antonio’s largest riot. Blacklisted, Emma left the state for many years, suffering poverty, unemployment, and personal threats against her safety...In the 1960s, Emma returned to San Antonio and began a different phase of her life-long community service, becoming a reading teacher for migrant students. Emma always focused on empowering people in the most basic and humane ways, inspiring and supporting their ability to work, to eat, to feed their families, to read, to vote. [A]mong the people for whom she fought and spoke and went to jail, her name was whispered with a respect reserved for no other leader. They called her “La Pasionaria de Texas.” And they kept her story alive, even when so many others tried to erase it from history. (AmericansWhoTellTheTruth.org) (Photo Credit: The San Antonio Light Collection, The Institute of Texan Cultures at UTSA)